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Whirlscape releases Minuum keyboard beta to early users

10,000 Indiegogo supporters first to try one-dimensional, virtual mobile keyboard

Minuum launches beta for Android users who supported Whirlscape's Indiegogo campaign — Minuum launches beta for Android users who supported Whirlscape’s Indiegogo campaign

TORONTO, Canada (June 18, 2013) — Whirlscape Inc., creators of Minuum, “the little keyboard for big fingers,” today released the Android beta to the nearly 10,000 supporters who funded the keyboard’s wildly successful Indiegogo campaign.

The Minuum Project campaign raised over $87,000 (USD) through the crowdfunding platform between March and April 2013, well past its initial goal of $10,000. Whirlscape promised to release the hotly anticipated Minuum beta two months after the campaign, and has delivered on that promise.

Minuum’s beta launch to its Indiegogo supporters was covered by TechCrunch, TechCrunch Japan and Mobile Syrup. Whirlscape’s technology was also highlighted in a VentureBeat article on the future of typing.

The product was also reviewed on TechVibes and the Android Police blog: “Minuum Keyboard Beta: Good enough to renew my faith in crowd-funded campaigns.”

Minuum is a tiny, linear, one-dimensional touchscreen keyboard that re-imagines the standard QWERTY layout. It frees up mobile screen space while allowing fast, accurate typing. This touchscreen keyboard marks the first phase of the Minuum Project, which seeks to simplify typing on mobile devices—such as smartphones and tablets—and enable typing for wearable technology. The beta release is an important first step towards Minuum’s “type anywhere” future.

Minuum’s crowdfunding campaign raises 873 per cent of initial goal

Over 9,600 people funded Toronto start-up’s one-dimensional mobile keyboard

Final tally for Minuum's Indiegogo campaign — The final tally for Minuum’s Indiegogo campaign: $87,369 in one month from 9,648 supporters.

TORONTO, Canada (April 18, 2013) — The Indiegogo campaign for Minuum, “the little keyboard for big fingers,” created by Whirlscape Inc., has closed after raising $87,369 in one month.

Minuum is a one-dimensional, tiny keyboard that frees up mobile screen space while allowing fast, accurate typing. Its specialized, patent-protected auto-correction algorithm allows highly imprecise typing, configuring the difference between what you type and what you mean in real time and getting it right even if you miss every single letter.

Read about the Minuum launch and reaching its $60,000 stretch milestone in previous posts. The posts include links to Minuum’s international media coverage. Most recently, their technology and Indiegogo success were featured in The Verge, the Financial Post, Mobile Syrup (includes an excellent Youtube interview with founder Will Walmsley, embedded below) and Tech2.

The campaign’s initial goal — $10,000 to fund the launch of an Android keyboard app — was reached within 14 hours. Since its launch on March 18, the campaign video has been viewed over 1.1 million times.

Did you know Minuum’s campaign is in Indiegogo’s top 10 of all time for projects with the largest number of supporters?

Minuum closes on $60,000 crowdfunded stretch goal to build wearable development kit

Minuum's one-line QWERTY keyboard on a touch device — Minuum’s one-line QWERTY keyboard on a touch device leaves more screen space for content.

Whirlscape Inc.‘s Minuum keyboard has enjoyed the kind of launch that start-up founders dream about yet few achieve.

UPDATE: Whirlscape’s Minuum Project has now cleared its $60,000 fundraising target. Mobile Syrup wrote a follow-up article on the campaign with details about the Wearable Development Kit. Their technology also got a second spot on CTV News‘s Tech Tuesday report and was featured on Global TV’s The Morning Show.

The little keyboard for big fingers, which launched an Indiegogo campaign a week ago today to support the launch of its Android keyboard app and a wearable development kit, is currently less than $4,000 from its crowd-funded stretch goal of $60,000.

The company was featured on CTV News on Mar. 24, 2013. The CTV video story and photos of CEO Will Walmsley and CTO Xavier Snelgrove are available on CTV’s website.

U of T med students participate in mass medical simulation exercise

OtoSim Night revolutionizes how students learn to identify ear pathologies

On Feb. 13, 2013, almost 100 second-year University of Toronto (U of T) medical students participated in an optional, intensive, one-hour otoscopy workshop using the OtoSim™ — a training and simulation system that is radically changing the way students in Canada and around the world learn this poorly-acquired medical skill.

And, if you want to use simulation technology to change the way medical professionals are taught, ear disease is a good place to start.

Additional photos from this event are posted on OtoSim Inc.’s Flickr account. A longer version of the OtoSim Night at U of T video is also available on the company’s YouTube channel.

“Historically, otoscopy simulation involved looking at an image of an eardrum on a piece of film at the end of a rubber ear,” said Dr. Andrew Sinclair, CEO of OtoSim Inc. “OtoSim™ has a digital image bank that is orders of magnitude more extensive. The instructor can electronically point to areas within the image and confirm that the student sees the pathology of interest. Diagnostic accuracy goes up enormously.”

Video: Dr. Raphael Hofstein’s interview with IBTimesTV

December 14, 2012
Susanne Staer
Media Coverage

Technology reporter Alastair Charlton speaks to Dr. Raphael Hofstein, president and CEO of MaRS Innovation, about how Tech City in the U.K. can learn from Canada’s hub for science, technology and social entrepreneurs.

MI Inventors Poon and Rahnama Pitch EMTech 2012 (Videos Online)

November 26, 2012
Susanne Staer
Awards

Being named to the MIT Technology Review's 35 Inventors Under 35 list is a prestigious honour, but one of its best perks is the subsequent invitation to attend the Emerging…

Hossein Rahnama, CEO of Flybits, on CBC’s Lang & O’Leary Exchange

August 29, 2012
Susanne Staer
Flybits

Hossein Rahnama on Lang & O'Leary — **Hossein Rahnama**, CEO of Flybits Inc., on CBC’s *Lang & O’Leary Exchange*. Rahnama is also a professor at Ryerson University.

Hossein Rahnama, CEO of Flybits, a MaRS Innovation spin-off company, appeared on CBC’s Lang and O’Leary Exchange on August 24, 2012.

Watch Rahnama’s interview on CBC’s Media Player. The interview begins at the 13:40 mark and runs to 19:30.

Rahnama, who is also a professor at Ryerson University and and research director at Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone, was recently named to the MIT Technology Review’s prestigious 35 Inventors Under 35 list for 2012 along with fellow MaRS Innovation inventor Joyce Poon.

He describes his context-aware mobile technology, the importance of adapting research to solve real-world problems, the advantages to running a start-up in Toronto, and growing Flybits while keeping the business in Canada.

Los Angeles Times covers Dr. Gregory Czarnota’s cancer therapy technology

The Los Angeles Times featured Dr. Gregory Czarnota’s research in their Science Now section on July 10, 2012, which reports on discoveries from the world of science and medicine (update: the article is no longer available online).

Czarnota, a researcher at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, is working with MaRS Innovation to license his patented technology: radiosensitization of tumour cells using a combination of microbubbles and targeted, high-intensity, focused ultrasound.

Flybits featured as Canadian tech export in UKTI Youtube video

June 26, 2012
Susanne Staer
Flybits

U.K. Trade and Investment (UKTI) has posted a Youtube video featuring Canadian companies looking to expand their operations to Britain.

Flybits, a Mars Innovation spin-off company, was among three companies to be profiled:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VrtJuSkYqY

Flybits is launching a corporate presence in East London’s Tech City, which is also known as the Silicon Roundabout.

The Accelerator Gazette Interviews Dr. Hossein Rahnama About Student Entrepreneurship

June 14, 2012
Susanne Staer
Flybits

Ryerson University, one of MaRS Innovation’s 16 member institutions, has created the Digital Media Zone (DMZ) to give student entrepreneurs and researchers — or anyone connected with a great idea connected to their campus — the space they need to grow their ideas.

Dr. Hossein Rahnama, the DMZ’s research director and a Ryerson University professor, was interviewed this week by The Accelerator Gazette about Ryerson’s approach to accelerating and incubating technologies.

Whirlscape releases Minuum keyboard beta to early users

10,000 Indiegogo supporters first to try one-dimensional, virtual mobile keyboard

Minuum’s crowdfunding campaign raises 873 per cent of initial goal

Minuum closes on $60,000 crowdfunded stretch goal to build wearable development kit

U of T med students participate in mass medical simulation exercise

OtoSim Night revolutionizes how students learn to identify ear pathologies

Video: Dr. Raphael Hofstein’s interview with IBTimesTV

MI Inventors Poon and Rahnama Pitch EMTech 2012 (Videos Online)

Hossein Rahnama, CEO of Flybits, on CBC’s Lang & O’Leary Exchange

Los Angeles Times covers Dr. Gregory Czarnota’s cancer therapy technology

Flybits featured as Canadian tech export in UKTI Youtube video

The Accelerator Gazette Interviews Dr. Hossein Rahnama About Student Entrepreneurship

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